Conveying systems and methods of associating data with an item transported by a conveying system

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods of associating data to an item being transported by a conveying system are disclosed. The item and data associated with the item are received at a first zone of the conveying system. The data is stored in a first computer-readable storage medium associated with the first zone. The item is transported to a second zone of the conveying system, and the data stored in the first computer-readable storage medium is transferred to a second computer-readable storage medium associated with the second zone.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/451,175 filed on Aug. 4, 2014, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 61/863,409 filed on Aug. 7, 2013. U.S.patent application Ser. No. 14/451,175 is also a continuationapplication of International Application No. PCT/US2013/0243349 filed onFeb. 1, 2013, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional ApplicationNo. 61/595,098 filed Feb. 5, 2012. The contents of each of theseapplications are incorporated by reference in their entirety as if fullyset forth herein.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to conveying systems and methods, and inparticular to conveying systems and methods of associating data withitems being transported by a conveying system.

Conveying systems are used for a variety of purposes. Exemplaryconveying systems include packaging systems, order fulfillment systems,manufacturing systems, shipping sortation systems, and returnsprocessing systems. Some conveying systems use centralizedmulti-horsepower AC motors to drive shafts, belts or chains that, inturn, move banks of rollers to transport items throughout the conveyingsystem. Other conveying systems include rollers with internal DC“micro-horsepower” motors that drive a localized segment of rollers. Thelatter systems include brushless DC roller conveying systems. Abrushless DC roller conveying system includes several components andfeatures, such as drive rollers with self-contained brushless DC motors,intelligent local controllers, and networking between the controllersbased on bidirectional communication protocols.

Brushless DC roller conveying systems can be controlled by localcontrollers that control local functions in each of a plurality of zonesof the conveying system and a centralized controller that tracks “items”(such as corrugated boxes, plastic totes, or pallets) as the items aretransported through the conveying system. The centralized controllerstracks items by uniquely identifying the items at decision points in theconveyor system. These decision points include, for example, diverts,transfers, merges, order picking zones, weighing, sortation, andprinting.

To uniquely identify the items, the conveyor systems often use bar codesthat are printed on adhesive labels that are adhered to the items.Alternatively, a permanent bar code label on a reusable tote could betemporarily assigned to item(s) contained within the tote. The bar codeassociated with the permanent label is re-assigned when the items withinthe tote are changed.

As items are transported throughout the conveyor system, bar codescanners are positioned at decision points to read the bar codes. Ateach decision point, the bar code information is electronically sent tothe centralized controller. The centralized controller determinesoperations to be performed for the item or data to be transmitted to thebarcode scan location. This methodology is sub-optimal for a variety ofreasons. For example, equipment capable of reading bar codes on movingitems is expensive and can represent a large percentage of the cost of aconventional automated conveyor system. In addition, bar code scannersthroughout the conveying system are in communication with the centralcontrol system, which may result in extensive and expensive datacommunication networks and associated cabling. Moreover, informationrequired at decision points is stored in a central database. Timelyaccess to that database can become challenging on large automatedconveyor systems because the central controller must service alldecision points simultaneously.

The bar codes used in conventional automated conveyor systems areone-dimensional bar codes that uniquely identify the item. However,one-dimensional bar codes do not contain any additional data about theitem. Instead, data that determines the functions to be performed by theconveying system is stored remotely in a database associated with thecentralized controller. This data can include routing information, orderdata, sort points, return points, or the like.

In a conventional conveying system, an item having an affixedone-dimensional bar code is transported by the conveying system. Theconveying system includes a first zone and a second zone, where eachzone includes a conveyor section that transports items, a bar codereader configured to scan bar codes affixed to the items, and a localcontroller. The conveying system further includes a centralizedcontroller and a centralized database. The bar code reader scans the barcode for an item when the item enters the corresponding zone andtransmits the bar code information to the local controller. The localcontroller retransmits the bar code information to the centralizedcontroller for processing based on the operation for the particularzone. For example, if the first zone includes a scale, the centralizedcontroller could send an expected weight for the item identified by thebar code information to the local controller for the first zone forcomparison with the actual weight of the item. If the second zoneincludes a label printer, the centralized controller will sendinformation to the local controller for the second zone to cause thelabel printer to print an appropriate label for the item.

One problem with such systems is that the one-dimensional bar code doesnot allow information to be passed from one zone to another. Moreover,the information in the one-dimensional bar code cannot be updated. Inaddition, as stated before, the centralized controller can become abottleneck for information transfer throughout the conveying system.Finally, bar code readers are required at every zone in such conveyingsystems, which is a significant cost for the conveying system and canslow down operation of the system to allow items to be scanned.

A similar conveying system including items with RFID tags have beenimplemented. Such conveying systems allow information to be transferredfrom one zone to another (by writing information to the RFID tag).However, including RFID tags with every item can increase expensessignificantly for large systems. Even in conveying systems in which RFIDtags can be reused, RFID tags can only be written a predefined number oftimes before they fail to operate reliably. Moreover, such systemsrequire RFID tag readers at every zone, which is a significant expenseand can slow down operation of the system to allow tags to be scanned.

The use of two-dimensional bar codes has allowed additional data to bepassed along with the item. For example, two-dimensional bar codes caninclude data about a predefined route of a specific item within theautomated conveyor system. However, two-dimensional bar codes cannot beupdated, thereby limiting the ability to update the data stored therein.

SUMMARY

In an embodiment, a method of associating data with an item beingtransported by a conveying system may include receiving an item at afirst zone of a conveying system, receiving data associated with theitem, storing the data in a first non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium associated with the first zone, transporting the item toa second zone of the conveying system, and transferring the data storedin the first computer-readable storage medium to a second non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium associated with the second zone.

In an embodiment, a method of associating data with an item beingtransported by a conveying system may include receiving an item from afirst zone of a conveying system at a second zone of the conveyingsystem, receiving, by a local controller of the second zone, dataassociated with the item from a local controller of the first zone ofthe conveying system, wherein the data comprises an expected value for aproperty of the item, comparing, by the local controller of the secondzone, the expected value for the property with an actual value for theproperty, in response to the comparing satisfying a threshold condition:transporting the item to a third zone of the conveying system, andtransferring the data to a local controller of the third zone by thelocal controller of the second zone, and, in response to the comparingnot satisfying the threshold condition, transporting the item to afourth zone of the conveying system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of an illustrative conveying systemaccording to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative method of associating data with an itembeing transported by the conveying system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 depicts an illustrative conveyor system according to anembodiment.

FIG. 4 depicts a block diagram of illustrative internal hardware thatmay be used to contain or implement program instructions according to anembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This disclosure is not limited to the particular systems, devices, andmethods described, as these may vary. The terminology used in thedescription is for the purpose of describing the particular versions orembodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope.

As used in this document, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the”include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used hereinhave the same meanings as commonly understood by one of ordinary skillin the art. Nothing in this disclosure is to be construed as anadmission that the embodiments described in this disclosure are notentitled to antedate such disclosure by virtue of prior invention. Asused in this document, the term “comprising” means “including, but notlimited to.”

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of an illustrative conveying systemaccording to an embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the conveying systemincludes a first zone 10 and a second zone 20. Each zone 10, 20 mayinclude a conveyor section 11, 21 configured to transports items, suchas 1, a driver 12, 22 configured to drive the conveyor section 11, 21, alocal controller 14, 24, and a non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium 15, 25. In an embodiment, at least one zone, such as the firstzone 10, may further include a data tag reader 13 (such as a bar codereader) configured to read data encoded in a data tag 2 (such as a barcode) associated with the item 1. In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 1,the first zone 10 further includes a scale 16, and the second zone 20further includes a label printer 27. However, it will be apparent tothose of ordinary skill in the art that additional physical operationsand devices may be used in each of the first and second zones 10, 20. Inan embodiment, the conveying system further includes a centralizedcontroller 40 and a centralized database 41. In an alternate embodiment,the conveying system does not include a centralized controller or acentralized database. In such an embodiment, data may be stored in thecomputer-readable storage media 15, 25 associated with the respectivezones.

As shown in FIG. 1, the first zone 10 includes a scale 16, and thesecond zone 20 includes a label printer 27. These functions of the firstzone 10 and second zone 20 were selected to illustrate one potentialimplementation for a conveying system. Other embodiments are alsoconsidered within the scope of this disclosure. For example, any numberof operations could benefit from allowing data to move through theconveying system with the item, such as at decision points in theconveying system, which may include diverts, transfers, merges, orderpicking zones, weighing, sortation, printing, and the like.

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative method of associating data with an itembeing transported by the conveying system according to an embodiment. Asshown in FIG. 2, an item having a data tag, such as, for example, aone-dimensional bar code, a two-dimensional bar code, an RFID tag, orthe like, may be received 205 in a first zone. A data tag reader mayread 210 (or scan) the data tag. The data tag reader may transmit 215the data tag information to a local controller. In an embodiment, thelocal controller may access 220 a database to store the data taginformation and identify an expected value for each of one or moreproperties for the item based on the data tag information. In analternate embodiment, the local controller may retransmit 225 the datatag information to a centralized controller, which accesses 227 acentral database to identify the expected values for the item.

A value for each of one or more actual properties of the item may beidentified 230. For example, a scale may be used to identify 230 aweight of the item. In an alternate embodiment, physical dimensions ofthe item may be identified 230 using one or more sensors. Additionaland/or alternate properties may be identified 230 within the scope ofthis disclosure. The local controller may compare 235 an actual valueand an expected value for each property to determine whether the itemsatisfies a threshold condition.

If the item satisfies the threshold condition, the local controller forthe first zone may submit 240 a request to a local controller for asecond zone to determine whether the item may be transported to thesecond zone. The local controller for the second zone may respond 245 tothe request when the item can be transported. The item may then betransported 250 to a second zone, and the data tag information and/orthe one or more actual values for the properties may be transmitted 255to a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium associated with thesecond zone.

If the item does not satisfy the threshold, the item may be transported260 to a third zone for manual processing.

In an embodiment, the second zone (and subsequent zones, if any) neednot rescan the data tag on the item because the information is storedlocally and transferred to the corresponding zone as, before or afterthe item is being transported. As such, information relevant to the zonefor an item having a particular data tag may be stored at the zone in alocal non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. As such, the datatag may only be scanned in the first zone, thereby speeding up thetransportation of the item through the conveying system. In particular,the disclosed method avoids the need for a data tag reader at eachdecision point in the conveying process, and eliminates the time neededfor reading physical data tags, such as bar codes or RFID tags, in allbut one zone. Moreover, in an embodiment, all processing may beperformed locally, which resolves the potential for blocking at acentralized controller.

It will be understood that the above described method is one exemplaryembodiment and that alternate methods may include variations from theabove description as well as additional features, some of which aredescribed below.

As described in reference to FIG. 2, the data tag is affixed to theitem. However, the data tag could be affixed to a container holding theitem or be integrated with the container holding the item, or otherwiseassociated with the item.

The conveying system may use rollers with internal DC “micro-horsepower”motors that drive a localized segment of rollers, including brushless DCroller conveying systems. The brushless DC roller conveying system mayinclude drive rollers with self-contained brushless DC motors,intelligent local controllers and networking between the localcontrollers based on bidirectional communication protocols. These typesof conveyor systems may segment long runs of conveyor into zones thathold a single item in a “Zone”. Each zone may have its ownpowered/motorized roller and can be started and stopped independently ofthe other zones on the system.

The local controller, in addition to driving the brushless motor, mayalso have the capability of communicating with external controlcomponents through digital I/O (Inputs and Outputs). These devicesinclude but are not limited to photo eye sensors, limit switches,operator interfaces, solenoid valves, motor contactors, sensors, and thelike. Each controller may include a microprocessor and may be incommunication with a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.The computer-readable storage medium may be of a sufficient size tostore information pertaining to the item within the particular zone. Thecomputer-readable storage medium may not exist as a physical device thattravels with the item (as in conventional systems), but instead may acta virtual data tag that travels with the item. Because the data tag isvirtual, no cost is associated with the data tag or the reader/writerdevices that are conventionally required throughout conveying systems toread and write RFID tags. Also, since the data is transferredelectronically, there are no speed issues relative to the transfer ofthe data.

The conveying system may include a motor driven roller conveyor line,which is basically a series of individual conveyors (zones) connectedend to end to create longer lengths of conveyor. Each section ofconveyor may contain its own drive roller which is coupled to the otherrollers in that zone. Typically, as an item is conveyed on a conveyorline, each local controller communicates with the controller(s) adjacentto it to move an item from one zone to another. A storage medium mayreside on a zone controller card of each local controller.

The following description describes, in more detail, an example in whicha bar code is associated with an item to be transported in a conveyingsystem that includes local computer-readable storage media. According tothe example, the conveying system conveys an item in a container, weighsthe item to determine whether the item is the correct weight (based onthe bar code), and either diverts the box to a reject lane or prints ashipping label specific to that item.

According to the example, illustrated in FIG. 3, a box (the item) entersZone 1. A bar code scanner reads a bar code on the item and identifiesthe item as Item 12345. The identifying information for Item 12345 issent to a local database to access specific information about the item.The item information may include a customer address, an expected weight,expected dimensions, a desired shipping method (such as, United StatesPostal Service delivery, UPS® delivery, Fed-Ex® delivery, or the like),a quantity, a SKU, whether the item is fragile, whether the itemrequires additional packaging, and/or the like.

Once the scanner captures the information, Zone 1 queries Zone 2 todetermine whether Zone 2 can accept the item (currently occupying Zone1). If Zone 2 is clear, Zone 2 will activate its conveyor and notifyZone 1 that it is clear. Zone 1 then turns on its conveyor andtransports the item towards Zone 2. As the item is being transportedfrom Zone 1 to Zone 2, Zone 1 may send the entire data record for theitem to Zone 2.

Once the item is located in Zone 2 and the data record associated withthe item has been electronically transferred to the computer-readablestorage medium for Zone 2, a scale in Zone 2 weighs the item. The actualweight is stored in the data record. Zone 2 queries Zone 3 to determinewhether Zone 3 can accept the item. If Zone 3 is clear, Zone 3 willactivate its conveyor and notify Zone 2 that it is clear. Zone 2 thenturns on its conveyor and transports the item towards Zone 3. As theitem is being transported from Zone 2 to Zone 3, Zone 2 may send theentire data record (including the recorded weight) for the item to Zone3.

Once the item is located in Zone 3, the local controller for Zone 3 maycompare the expected weight with the actual weight (as measured in Zone2). If the local controller in Zone 3 determines that the actual weightis not the same as the expected weight, within a prescribed tolerance,Zone 3 will divert the item to Zone 6 (a reject conveyor). In thisinstance, Zone 3 queries Zone 6 to determine whether Zone 6 can acceptthe item. If Zone 6 is clear, Zone 6 will activate its conveyor andnotify Zone 3 that it is clear. Zone 3 then turns on its conveyor andtransports the item towards Zone 6.

In contrast, if the local controller in Zone 3 determines that theactual weight substantially matches the expected weight, Zone 3 willtransport the item to Zone 4. In this instance, Zone 3 queries Zone 4 todetermine whether Zone 4 can accept the item. If Zone 4 is clear, Zone 4will activate its conveyor and notify Zone 3 that it is clear. Zone 3then turns on its conveyor and transports the item towards Zone 4. Asthe item is being transported from Zone 3 to Zone 4, Zone 3 may send theentire data record for the item to Zone 4. Zone 4 may further transportthe item to Zone 5 in a similar manner.

When the item arrives at Zone 5, a label printer may print a shippinglabel for the item. The data for the shipping label may be included inthe data record now resident in the local non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium in Zone 5. As such, the controller mayretrieve the required information and cause the printer to print thelabel. The order may then be marked as shipped. The completed orderinformation may be sent to an order tracking database separate from theconveying system.

FIG. 4 depicts a block diagram of illustrative internal hardware thatmay be used to contain or implement program instructions according to anembodiment. A bus 400 serves as the main information highwayinterconnecting the other illustrated components of the hardware. CPU405 is the central processing unit of the system, performingcalculations and logic operations required to execute a program. CPU405, alone or in conjunction with one or more of the other elementsdisclosed in FIG. 4, is an exemplary processing device, computing deviceor processor as such terms are used within this disclosure. Read onlymemory (ROM) 410 and random access memory (RAM) 415 constitute exemplarymemory devices.

A controller 420 interfaces with one or more optional memory devices 425to the system bus 400. These memory devices 425 may include, forexample, an external or internal DVD drive, a CD ROM drive, a harddrive, flash memory, a USB drive or the like. As indicated previously,these various drives and controllers are optional devices. Additionally,the memory devices 425 may be configured to include individual files forstoring any software modules or instructions, auxiliary data, commonfiles for storing groups of results or auxiliary, or one or moredatabases for storing the result information, auxiliary data, andrelated information as discussed above.

Program instructions, software or interactive modules for performing anyof the functional steps associated with the steps, applications, or thelike described above may be stored in the ROM 410 and/or the RAM 415.Optionally, the program instructions may be stored on a tangiblecomputer-readable medium such as a compact disk, a digital disk, flashmemory, a memory card, a USB drive, an optical disc storage medium, suchas a Blu-ray™ disc, and/or other recording medium.

An optional display interface 430 may permit information from the bus400 to be displayed on the display 435 in audio, visual, graphic oralphanumeric format. The information may include information related toa current job ticket and associated tasks. Communication with externaldevices may occur using various communication ports 440. An exemplarycommunication port 440 may be attached to a communications network, suchas the Internet or a local area network.

The hardware may also include an interface 445 which allows for receiptof data from input devices such as a keyboard 450 or other input device455 such as a mouse, a joystick, a touch screen, a remote control, apointing device, a video input device and/or an audio input device.

In the above detailed description, reference is made to the accompanyingdrawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings, similar symbolstypically identify similar components, unless context dictatesotherwise. The illustrative embodiments described in the detaileddescription, drawings, and claims are not meant to be limiting. Otherembodiments may be used, and other changes may be made, withoutdeparting from the spirit or scope of the subject matter presentedherein. It will be readily understood that the aspects of the presentdisclosure, as generally described herein, and illustrated in theFigures, can be arranged, substituted, combined, separated, and designedin a wide variety of different configurations, all of which areexplicitly contemplated herein.

The present disclosure is not to be limited in terms of the particularembodiments described in this application, which are intended asillustrations of various aspects. Many modifications and variations canbe made without departing from its spirit and scope, as will be apparentto those skilled in the art. Functionally equivalent methods andapparatuses within the scope of the disclosure, in addition to thoseenumerated herein, will be apparent to those skilled in the art from theforegoing descriptions. Such modifications and variations are intendedto fall within the scope of the appended claims. The present disclosureis to be limited only by the terms of the appended claims, along withthe full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. It isto be understood that this disclosure is not limited to particularmethods, reagents, compounds, compositions or biological systems, whichcan, of course, vary. It is also to be understood that the terminologyused herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodimentsonly, and is not intended to be limiting.

With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singularterms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from theplural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as isappropriate to the context and/or application. The varioussingular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sakeof clarity.

It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, termsused herein, and especially in the appended claims (for example, bodiesof the appended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (forexample, the term “including” should be interpreted as “including butnot limited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having atleast,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but isnot limited to,” et cetera). While various compositions, methods, anddevices are described in terms of “comprising” various components orsteps (interpreted as meaning “including, but not limited to”), thecompositions, methods, and devices can also “consist essentially of” or“consist of” the various components and steps, and such terminologyshould be interpreted as defining essentially closed-member groups. Itwill be further understood by those within the art that if a specificnumber of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intentwill be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of suchrecitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid tounderstanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of theintroductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claimrecitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed toimply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinitearticles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing suchintroduced claim recitation to embodiments containing only one suchrecitation, even when the same claim 1ncludes the introductory phrases“one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or“an” (for example, “a” and/or “an” should be interpreted to mean “atleast one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use ofdefinite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, evenif a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitlyrecited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitationshould be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (for example,the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, meansat least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, inthose instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B,and C, et cetera” is used, in general such a construction is intended inthe sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention(for example, “ a system having at least one of A, B, and C” wouldinclude but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, Calone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A,B, and C together, et cetera). In those instances where a conventionanalogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, et cetera” is used, in generalsuch a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the artwould understand the convention (for example, “ a system having at leastone of A, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that haveA alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and Ctogether, and/or A, B, and C together, et cetera). It will be furtherunderstood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive wordand/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in thedescription, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplatethe possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, orboth terms. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be understood toinclude the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”

In addition, where features or aspects of the disclosure are describedin terms of Markush groups, those skilled in the art will recognize thatthe disclosure is also thereby described in terms of any individualmember or subgroup of members of the Markush group.

As will be understood by one skilled in the art, for any and allpurposes, such as in terms of providing a written description, allranges disclosed herein also encompass any and all possible subrangesand combinations of subranges thereof. Any listed range can be easilyrecognized as sufficiently describing and enabling the same range beingbroken down into at least equal halves, thirds, quarters, fifths,tenths, et cetera As a non-limiting example, each range discussed hereincan be readily broken down into a lower third, middle third and upperthird, et cetera As will also be understood by one skilled in the artall language such as “up to,” “at least,” and the like include thenumber recited and refer to ranges which can be subsequently broken downinto subranges as discussed above. Finally, as will be understood by oneskilled in the art, a range includes each individual member. Thus, forexample, a group having 1-3 cells refers to groups having 1, 2, or 3cells. Similarly, a group having 1-5 cells refers to groups having 1, 2,3, 4, or 5 cells, and so forth.

Various of the above-disclosed and other features and functions, oralternatives thereof, may be combined into many other different systemsor applications. Various presently unforeseen or unanticipatedalternatives, modifications, variations or improvements therein may besubsequently made by those skilled in the art, each of which is alsointended to be encompassed by the disclosed embodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of associating data with an item beingtransported by a conveying system, the method comprising: receiving anitem at a first zone of a conveying system; receiving data associatedwith the item; storing the data in a first non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium associated with the first zone;transporting the item to a second zone of the conveying system, whereintransporting the item to a second zone comprises: (a) querying thesecond zone via the first zone to determine whether the second zone canaccept the item, wherein the second zone determines whether the secondzone can accept the item without using the data tag reader, (b)activating a second conveyer of the second zone responsive to the secondzone indicating that the second zone can accept the item, and (c)activating a first conveyer of the first zone to move the item to thesecond conveyer; and transferring the data stored in the firstcomputer-readable storage medium to a second non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium associated with the second zone.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein receiving data associated with the itemcomprises: reading data from a data tag associated with the item using adata tag reader associated with the first zone.
 3. The method of claim2, wherein the data read by the data reader is stored into the firstcomputer-readable storage medium.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein thedata reader includes at least one of a bar code reader and a RFIDreader.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving data associated withthe item comprises: receiving data from a database remote from the firstzone.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: sensing a propertyof the item using a sensor associated with the first zone.
 7. The methodof claim 6, wherein receiving data associated with the item comprises:receiving data pertaining to the property of the item.
 8. The method ofclaim 6, wherein sensing a property of the item comprises sensing aweight of the item.
 9. The method of claim 6, wherein sensing a propertyof the item comprises sensing one or more dimensions of the item.
 10. Amethod of associating data with an item being transported by a conveyingsystem, the method comprising: receiving an item from a first zone of aconveying system at a first adjacent zone of the conveying system;receiving, by a local controller of the first adjacent zone, dataassociated with the item from a local controller of the first zone ofthe conveying system, wherein the data comprises an expected value for aproperty of the item; comparing, by the local controller of the firstadjacent zone, the expected value for the property with an actual valuefor the property; and in response to the comparing satisfying athreshold condition: transporting the item to a second adjacent zone ofthe conveying system upon receiving notification that the secondadjacent zone can accept the item, and transferring the data to a localcontroller of the second adjacent zone by the local controller of thefirst adjacent zone.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the propertycomprises a weight of the item.
 12. The method of claim 10, wherein theproperty comprises one or more dimensions of the item.
 13. The method ofclaim 10, wherein the data further comprises the actual value for theproperty.
 14. The method of claim 10, further comprising: sensing, by asensor, the actual value for the property; and transmitting, by thesensor, the actual value for the property to the local controller forthe second zone.
 15. A conveying system comprising: a plurality ofzones, each comprising: a conveyor section configured to transport anitem; a driver configured to drive the conveyor section; anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium configured to store dataassociated with the item; and a controller configured to communicatewith a controller of at least one adjacent zone, control the driver totransport the item into the adjacent zone, and control thecomputer-readable storage medium to transfer the stored data into thecomputer-readable storage medium of the at least one adjacent zone,wherein the controller of the first zone is configured to control thedriver of the first zone to transport the item into the at least oneadjacent zone if the controller of the first zone receives notificationthat the at least one adjacent zone can accept the item and isconfigured to control the driver of the first zone to transport the iteminto an alternate adjacent zone if the controller of the first zonereceives notification that the at least one adjacent zone cannot acceptthe item.
 16. The conveying system of claim 15, wherein one of theplurality of zones includes a data reader configured to read data from adata tag associated with the item.
 17. The conveying system of claim 16,wherein the data reader includes at least one of a bar code reader and aRFID reader.
 18. The conveying system of claim 15, wherein one of theplurality of zones includes a sensor configured to sense a property ofthe item.
 19. The conveying system of claim 18, wherein the sensor is ascale configured to sense a weight of the item.
 20. The conveying systemof claim 15, wherein one of the plurality of zones includes a processorconfigured to process an item based on the data stored in thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium.
 21. The conveyingsystem of claim 20, where the processor is a label printer configured toprint a label for the item based on a property of the item.